Named an “oracle of remote work” by CNBC and included in The Forbes Future of Work 50, Darren is a recognized visionary in organizational design.

Darren is VP, Workplace Design and Remote Experience at Andela. He leads at the intersection of people operations, marketing, and strategic communication. His career is defined by leading remote teams, charting remote transformations, connecting nonobvious dots, and architecting inclusive cultures. He holds a Guinness World Record in publishing, and authored GitLab’s Remote Playbook and “Living the Remote Dream: A Guide To Seeing the World, Setting Records, and Advancing Your Career.”

Darren has pioneered the Head of Remote role, been interviewed by Harvard Business School, CNBC, CNN, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Fortune, Digiday, Business Insider, and more.

Lisa launched The Messenger Group in 2001, which has custom-published more than 400 books for companies and individuals and now releases 40 – 60 products per year globally. Lisa has authored and co-authored more than 36 books and become an authority in the start-up scene.

Her passion is to challenge individuals and corporations to change the way they think, take them out of their comfort zone and prove that there is more than one way to do anything. She encourages entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and innovation and lives life to the absolute max.

With fans including Sir Richard Branson, New York Times Best-selling author Bradley Trevor Grieve, and a social media following of well over 800,000 across the Collective Hub platforms, Lisa’s vision is to build a community of like-minded people who want to challenge the status quo and change the world.

Stephen is a customer focussed, data-driven leader and innovator with many years experience as a senior executive in financial services, mobility, telecommunications and travel. He has lived and worked in Australia, Asia, Mexico and the USA.

Stephen is now co-founder of Zipidi which specialises in risk management, strategy, insurance, regulatory advice and technology for micromobility. Zipidi works with manufacturers, retailers, share operators, major organisations and regulators worldwide.

As a strategic advisor and management consultant, Wesley has worked with the CEOs and

leadership teams of publicly listed companies GOOROO (ASX-GOO), mid-size health insurers GMHBA and start-ups Converged Technology and Peggy and Finn. He has also worked as an advisor to President Bill Clinton as a member of the President’s Working Group, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Administration Cabinet Secretary Tessa Jowell as a fellow at the US Embassy in London, and Prince Turki as a member of the senior leadership team at DAR AL

Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Wesley is a leadership coach and board mentor at Criticaleye (UK and Australia), and lectures, chairs student PhD dissertation committees and publishes articles on transformational leadership, strategy and strategic change, organisation behaviour and

change management.

Wesley has a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Science (MSc) in Human Resource Management and Industrial Labour Relations from The Pennsylvania State University. His Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) research at Napier Edinburgh Business School on “Leadership, People and Culture Due Diligence in Mergers & Acquisition, Integration and Restructure” will be published later this year.

Dr Kristy Goodwin studies what it takes to thrive in the digital world. Kristy translates the science of digital productivity and wellbeing into realistic strategies so individuals can achieve peak-performance in a digital world.

She’s worked with large and small organisations to help employees, leaders and teams ignite peak-performance in their professional and personal lives, without proposing you eradicate email or cancel Zoom meetings.

Dr Kristy is an author, researcher and is frequently called on by the media for her expert opinion on how technology is shaping our focus, physical health and mental wellbeing, without proposing ‘digital abstinence’. Having presented to global audiences, Kristy provides research-based, yet realistic strategies to boost performance and productivity in an always-on world. Kristy wants to help you tame your digital behaviours so you can flourish online and offline.

Gabrielle Dolan is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker and educator on strategic storytelling and real communication. Her clients include the Obama Foundation, Telstra, EY, Accenture VISA, Australia Post, National Australia
Bank, Amazon and Vodafone.

Gabrielle is the best selling author of six books including Real Communication: How to be you and lead true, a finalist in the Australian Business Leadership Book Awards 2019. Her other titles consist of Magnetic Stories (2021), Stories for Work (2017), Storytelling for Job Interviews (2016), Ignite (2015) and Hooked (2013). Her latest title, Magnetic Stories: Connect with customers and engage employees with brand storytelling was published by Wiley in March 2021.
 

Bringing humanity to the way business people communicate isn’t just a career, it’s a calling. Her dedication to the industry was recognised when Gabrielle was awarded the 2020 Communicator of the Year by the International Association of
Business Communicators Asia Pacific region.

Recruitment Advisor Greg Savage is the author of the best-selling book "The Savage Truth" and principal of the online recruitment learning platform the Savage Recruitment Academy.

With a career spanning four decades, Greg is a founder of 4 highly successful businesses, he is a trusted advisor and respected voice across the global recruitment and professional services industries, and a regular keynote speaker at conferences around the world.

Chelsea is an international well-being speaker, ambassador for mental health charities including RUOK? and The Gidget Foundation, and author of ‘The Mindful High Performer’. Her passion is helping busy minds reset, recharge and navigate the challenges of everyday life.

Featured on Channel 9, ABC News, Marie Claire and Women’s Health, and with high-profile clients including CBA, eBay, Uber, Macquarie, Estee Lauder, Dexus Property and Google, Chelsea helps empower people to take control of their mental well-being and be more efficient, resilient and happy.

Life insurance specialist, Gary Bennett, has over 35 years’ experience in the industry; working for a number of companies in Australia, Asia, Mexico and the USA. Gary currently heads Hong Kong-based North Star Consulting which provides high-level strategic advice and operational support to life insurance companies, Insurtech, Fintech start-ups and new companies; with particular strength in leadership support, executive management, M&As, restructuring, distribution, products, fund raising and marketing.

Gary is a global citizen with experience in over a dozen countries across cultures and varied business and regulatory environments.

Dr Kirstin Ferguson is an author, columnist and company director. In 2023 Kirstin became a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to business, and to gender equality.

One of Australia’s most prominent leadership experts, Kirstin is also making a global impact, with UK based Thinkers50 naming her one of the world’s top 30 “Thinkers to Watch” and she was shortlisted for the Distinguished Award in Leadership in 2021.

Kirstin’s career includes three decades of leadership experience including a previous appointment by the Australian Prime Minister as Acting Chair and Deputy Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Kirstin has previously been the CEO of a global consulting firm, was a senior executive at a leading corporate law firm and spent nearly 10 years as an Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Kirstin’s second book, Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership has been described by #1 NYT bestselling author, Adam Grant, as “A timely, actionable book on the virtues that every great leader needs to learn.” Kirstin writes a popular weekly column for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age called Got a Minute? answering the nation’s work, leadership, and culture questions. She also contributes to the Financial Review.

A passionate advocate for women, diversity, and inclusion, Kirstin was responsible for sparking a viral social media campaign called #CelebratingWomen, and is the coauthor of award-winning book, Women Kind: Unlocking the power of women supporting women.

Margie Warrell is a leadership authority with extensive global experience supporting leaders and businesses in transformative change agendas.

A Senior Partner in Korn Ferry’s Board, CEO Succession and Leadership practice, Margie draws on her international background in Fortune 500 business, psychology and coaching to help leaders accelerate change, incubate innovation and cultivate more forward-leaning cultures.

Raised in rural Victoria, Australia and now based in Washington DC, Margie has lived and worked around the world (from Papua New Guinea to Singapore) and brings a global lens and sharp insights to address the complex challenges facing leaders and organizations today. Margie has been engaged by leading organizations (such as NASA, Google, Visa, Morgan Stanley, Johnson & Johnson) to embolden braver leadership and foster more innovative and agile ‘cultures of courage.’

A Forbes columnist who sits on the advisory board of Forbes School of Business, Margie is also regular media contributor (Today Show, CNN, Bloomberg, WSJ). Her doctoral research in human development and organizational change informs her work in cultivating more inclusive enterprises that unleash the value of diversity and advance more women to top tables.

Outside work, Margie enjoys adventure travel and hiking. Her intrepid spirit inspired her summit of Mt Kilimanjaro with her husband and four teenage children.

Vanessa is the CEO of Next Evolution Performance - a global high-performance coaching business helping leaders and teams to maximize performance AND to decrease their overall effort to ensure that success, and therefore profitability, is sustainable.

Put simply it’s You. At your best. Always.

Vanessa has over 20 years of experience in the financial services and health and fitness professions. She was the Head of Financial Adviser Distribution for Dimensional Fund Advisors for Australia and New Zealand, with assets under management growing from $1B to over $9B during her tenure of over 8 years. Prior to that she held senior sales roles as an Associate Director with Macquarie Bank.
 

Vanessa also qualified as a group fitness instructor whilst completing her undergraduate university studies and has always taught classes on top of her professional career. She has been with Fitness First for 20 years as a senior group fitness instructor and mentor.

She has a Master of Science in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health - with Distinction, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.

Margaret has a love of family and a passion for life. After spending over 10 years across the sporting and media sectors and then 30 years in the airline industry, Margaret followed her passion and volunteered for My Room Children’s Cancer Charity which raises awareness and funds to support families, fund clinical care and invest in research that will hopefully lead to a cure for all Childhood Cancers.

Margaret has a plethora of knowledge about the issues of Childhood Cancer and the impact it has not only on the children themselves but also on their families. Harnessing this knowledge she embarked on the job she describes as her lifelong passion.

Margaret was appointed My Room’s first full-time executive in its 30-year history, where she volunteered for over 20 years. She feels privileged and honoured to be in this role, now leading a strong all-volunteer-led committee to the next level so that they can continue to make a difference in the lives of so many children and families affected by childhood cancer.

Margaret dedicates many hours to speaking and fundraising to make the 100% cure a reality! Margaret is mother to 3 sons and fur puppy, Molly.

Margaret was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the community through charitable initiatives.

Marina Brbot Marina Brbot is an award-winning photographer, Key-Note speaker and author of Australia’s very own inspirational book 'Because She Can'.

Marina has recently also followed up with her sought-after self-help book and memoir, Choose to
Climb Dare to Fly and is soon to release her third book, 'And So He Did'.

Sharing her vivid journey and a commitment to inspire, connecting through emotion and hope, Marina is dedicated to producing heartfelt speeches to audiences of men and women. Her work has raised much awareness of the importance of connecting with one another, mastering your own emotions and knowing that collectively we can make a positive difference in the world.

“ I do what I do for those wanting to make a change, get off the hamster wheel of life, and understand
that living is one thing, wholehearted living is so much more.”

Elly Johnson is a former Police Officer turned communication specialist, trainer and keynote

speaker. She shines a spotlight on critical elements of robust relationships and healthy

workplaces; speaking truth, building trust and obtaining truthful information.

Elly’s fresh perspective on communication and human behaviour equips people with an

awareness of how to use truth as a superpower. She explores how to apply this knowledge to

develop the confidence to hear, speak, influence or uncover the truth when it matters most.

The subject of truth attraction and lie detection first appeared on Elly’s professional radar when

she joined Victoria Police at the age of 22. She became curious about communication and

interviewing styles and was motivated to understand how to ask more effective questions and

better evaluate truthfulness and credibility in human interactions.

For over two decades, Elly has worked with

individuals, teams and organisations, helping people build skills to; uncover the truth, read human

behaviour, improve communication, ask better questions, strengthen relationships, and reduce

risk.

Elly has built an expansive career that includes consulting with and developing programs for

national security and intelligence agencies as well as teaching global businesses. For more about Elly's program click here.

Lisa Barron created her eponymous label in 1983 after 2 years of fashion study in Perth, Western Australia. With $500 and a portable sewing machine, Lisa crossed the country and set up a garage business in Melbourne.

Designing, sewing and selling the collections to iconic fashion retailers through the 80's and 90's saw the label become a strong player in the Australian fashion industry.

Lisa Barron has been invited to participate in all the major fashion shows and festivals starting with the Australian Designer Collection Shows in the 80's, dressing supermodels such as Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer and Helena Christensen through to every Melbourne Fashion Festival since its inception in 1992.

The label is proudly made in Australia and Lisa is a strong supporter of local manufacturing.

Adrian Hondros has over 35 years’ experience in corporate life across Financial Services in Australia & Asia and the Residential Construction Industry in Australia. Mr Hondros was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Porter Davis Homes in Melbourne and was previously the Executive General Manager of Commonwealth Private Bank in Australia and Asia, CEO of St Andrew’s Australia and General Manager of NAB Private Bank for Australia and Asia.

He has been a director of several financial services organisations, including Director of Commonwealth Private Limited, Chairman of Commonwealth Private Limited, Trustee Director of Commonwealth Bank’s Group Super Board and Chair of its Investment Committee.

In 2022 Mr Hondros launched Hondros Consulting specialising in Leadership, Strategy & Governance and is in collaboration with Club of United Business in Australia and Boston Global in Boston, USA.

One of Australia’s ‘Keynote Speakers of Excellence’, Louise is recognized as a Top 30 Global Guru in both Body Language and Communication and is awarded

Internationally for her contribution to Women in Business.

Her skills as a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming pull together her academic study and a decade of professional performance on the European opera stage to put her in a league of her own. These blended skills bring powerful observation that elicits discernible, positive change to handle presentations, conquer media and glide through high-stake engagements with poise and ease.

Her techniques will help you build confidence, instill

trust and create influence by ‘being heard’ in every environment you face.

Louise is a regular contributor to print, radio and television media, appearing regularly on

Channel 7 and lauded for her expertise and humour.

Steve Faktor is an innovator, futurist and digital commerce expert. He is Managing Director of IdeaFaktory, which helps companies accelerate growth by partnering with top startups, developing new innovations, and restructuring for growth. As a senior executive at American Express, Citi and MasterCard, Steve has created several $100M+ businesses and deployed multiple enterprise innovation programs. He is author of Econovation, which critics describe as “a fascinating, erudite, bitingly funny, well researched, and…important book“ about capitalizing on the end of consumerism and rise of 'producerism'.

Steve is a top-ranked global keynote speaker, who has keynoted major events for CFO Magazine, New York University, Harvard, PDMA, Frost & Sullivan, Rocketspace, New Media Expo and numerous corporations. He also leads workshops, ideation and training sessions based on his proprietary 4C’s of Innovation(TM) methodology. Steve writes provocative articles on innovation and entrepreneurship for Forbes and Harvard Business Review and is one of 160 original Linkedin Influencers (along with luminaries like Richard Branson).

Steve graduated from the NYU Stern School of Business and lives in New York City. He actively supports Junior Achievement and several Thai restaurants in his neighbourhood.

Dr Simone Scovell is the Founder and CEO of TOTIUM, a multi-national B2B med-tech and health services company delivering quality, affordable and tailored preventative healthcare solutions for some of the world’s most iconic companies.

She is a Specialist Occupational Physician and Fellow of Medicine of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians who brings a wealth of experience in commercial, clinical and health data governance.

Simone has advised the Federal Government on healthcare and data governance, serving as the Health Minister’s Nominee Representative on the Board of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Simone holds triple degrees in Medicine, Surgery and Medical Science (University of Sydney), is a Master of Occupational and Environmental Health (Monash) and is completing an Associate Degree in Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (Stanford University School of Medicine, USA).

As an elite basketballer, Simone won four WNBL titles and represented Australia. She was voted Doctor of the Year by her peers in 2005, her final year working as a Resident Surgeon in Cardiothoracic Surgery at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney.

Liam strongly believes that the future of work is remote. Through his work in the past decade and more, he has developed a reputation as a highly influential and supportive advocate of the adoption of remote-first management and cultures in organizations around the world.

Guided by an overarching mission to empower both employers and employees to benefit from more collaborative, productive and effective asynchronous work environments, Liam launched time tracking and employee productivity SaaS platform Time Doctor in 2011 with co-founder Rob Rawson.

A prolific and self-assured writer and speaker, Liam is genuinely committed to helping others overcome conventional business wisdom to increase their agility and competitiveness. Since 2017, he has been the co-organizer of the world’s largest conference for building and scaling remote teams, Running Remote. He has openly shared his expertise on the benefits and challenges of flexible, asynchronous and data-driven workforce management in articles for reputable publications like Forbes, Inc, TechCrunch, and Wired.

Andrew Griffiths is best described as an entrepreneurial futurist - in other words, he specialises in future-proofing businesses across virtually every industry and in every corner of the planet. With 13 bestselling books sold in 65 countries

(and he has just released his 14th book) and a client base that includes organisations such as the European Union, CBS, Hewlett Packard, Hertz and Telstra, to mention just a few of the 500 organisations he has worked with, he is clearly sought after to provide advice and wisdom for the smallest of businesses to the largest of organisations.

Andrew is able to share his observations, experiences and research from around to world to identify the exact steps any organisation needs to take to become future-proof. He delivers his advice in a down-to-earth, simple and often hilarious way.

Andrew has been a commentator on all things

business for many years for organisations including INC, CBS, Newscorp and Flying Solo. He has created thousands of sharp, relevant and insightful articles, videos and podcast episodes as well as being interviewed hundreds of times by various media around the world. Andrew’s advice is a combination of street-smart wisdom, practical concepts and productive triggers, derived from the hard-learned lessons with his own trial and error, as well as years of close observation and identification of the characteristics shared by both the really successful and the really unsuccessful.